Digital Signage - Is it a significant disruptive technology for point of sale? Yes. Is it a threat to print? No.

[Marcus Timson]

DS (this means digital signage obviously), is arguably an effective marketing tool in high density environments (indoors and outdoors) with transient and potentially lucrative audiences.

But it is still unproven in FMCG retail locations, in my opinion.

And there is little measurement on hand to prove its power. For example, the media and perhaps more importantly, the content seems to currently be more 'interruption marketing' oriented. By that, I mean it is designed to disrupt and interrupt the viewer’s attention. DS demands attention, and that is what marketing should do, but in a POS environment, for retailers and marketers using DS, it is more difficult to create, engage and transfer a powerful message to a person whose attention span is already short and whose time is more pressured than ever. Just think about yourself for a minute, do you have the time or inclination to want to stop to watch an 15 second TV advert when you are shopping?

DS clearly works in locations where people are waiting or queuing but not as a general placement in retail environments where people will not stop and want to consume a relatively complex message (it simply requires more brain power to absorb a moving picture I know this, I tested it on myself).

According to FESPA's World Wide Survey, it is affecting and impacting on our community and many dynamic print service providers are looking for ways to adopt it to sell to their customers. Retail, Point of Sale and Out of home is being 'hit' by digital signage, but not as much as I would have thought 2 years on from the FESPA Directors Summit in Geneva, when it was first discussed by the wide format printing community at a FESPA event.

But despite the positive data from the World Wide Survey, adoption of this potentially exciting technology has been slow. Why is this? Mark Pigou of Screen Expo makes the point that this new technology or media has been created and its growth has been driven by technology owners, not by brands, media site owners or retailers.

So it needs a pioneering brand that really integrates DS into a campaign in such a way that provides them with momentary competitive advantage. As soon as the results are seen and proven - the marketing community will leap into DS with gusto and DS will find its place. But this still has not occurred.

DS is still expensive to install, deliver and maintain and has not yet fully found its niche. Placing a cool looking LCD screen in a location where there may be people, then running a simple ad (that may as well be printed) is not sophisticated or effective marketing. More importantly, if the technology is used to its advantage it should be interactive and shouldn’t that, after all, should be the benefits of smart digital signage technology?

In the current economic climate, surely retailers and brands are rediscovering the power of the printed message? Print works. It is proven, reliable, trustworthy and relatively low in cost certainly compared with the high capital investment required for digital signage. With the relatively recent infusion of digital inkjet technology into wide format digital print technology, a whole host of creative and powerful communication is taking place (you only have to see the results of the FESPA Digital Print Awards to see how innovative the market is being with digital inkjet). And digital wide format printing enables responsive, fast to shop floors, inspirational and powerfully effective messaging.

There is no doubt that the clever use of DS in transient environments where socio-economic groups change through an 8 hour period enables media owners to sell more specific and customised advertising to brands that need new channels to reach a more brutal and financially concerned consumer. Yes, the benefits and the unique selling points are compelling.

So watch this space. Disruptive technologies always go through a period where they need to find their particular use - DS is not there yet, but will undoubtedly get there. But to what extent, and exactly how this expensive and unproven technology is deployed, remains to be seen.

My opinion, for what its worth, is that it will only work where it adds value to printed communication. It cannot beat print for conveying simple and easy to digest messaging - humanity does not need yet another 'interruption' marketing tool - unless digital signage really steps up to the mark and is fully embraced by brands who see the creative but also the business potential of the technology it may remain a niche and slightly 'gimmicky' method for transferring a message that is already effectively done by print. It needs to add value, experience and that undoubted ‘wow factor’.

So the wait continues, but may be longer than expected due to more pressing financial concerns.

DS’s impact on market share for printed OOH and POS is marginal at the moment (according to Mark it only makes up 2-3% of total marketing spend)...but as technology evolves to meet expectations and improve measurement, digital signage will find its niche. But niche it will remain.

For the entrepeneurial PSP - get into it now, it will add value to your portfolio...do you want the business when this digital technology is finally accepted and our market fully recovers?

Remember, in this super fast media world – there is money to be made in niches...

[Herman Hartman]

There are several points to make on this issue and at the end I would say yes and no on your question digital print as threat. Using DS on the same way as print doe no make to much sense as Marcus said it is more expensive and deliver less image quality so that’s a sure no. But if we can manage that the ad that is shown is focusing on the needs from the visitors that are really in the shop it make sense that even adds with a lower visual quality will deliver more awareness and if one can manage to combine stills with video ads or ambience picture’s towards a screen It can help to drive up the sales. So there is a sure yes also. Marketers like the idea of one to one communication an looking all the time to ways to reach this. DS can deliver that, if you know enough about the public or the public is willing to respond on an certain question form an interactive touch screen. The new generation screens can build in a way that day don like to much like a TV screen.
But to make such systems a success the first step should be to generate enough custom content for an system to build a mix that works . For every one that is involved in bringing weekly campaigns in the retail knows how difficult is is even to get stills in the right quality again and again. In a successful DS system you need a lot more stills and movies to build up a database. You also need someone in place that can program and manage the content. The technical issues are not the most problematic ones but managing the system is. And this retailers have a need for people that can help them.
I have no doubt that we will see more screens in place in the retail within some years and yes that will be part of the decoration and atmosphere in the shop. As well as print but also lighting will be. The key to that lay in hands of the creative industry and ICT company s more than in hands the print production. The printer will asked to deliver more sustainable POS materials and will be responsible for long term decoration in and outside the shop. There prints are mixed up in the store with screens and print will not only be in competition with screen but also with the new lighting techniques that are coming up.

[Michael Turnbull @ RealVision]

....and think of the combined result. Embedded screens in printed displays. So rather DS vs Print consider the 1 + 1 = 3 equation. Take the likes of the Xanita XBoard. Get it designed into whatever, get it printed then embedd some LCD technology with inbuilt PC and 3G internet access. Now you've got the best of all worlds.